Picture taken on September 4, 2023 shows windmills at the Nysted Offshore Wind Farm constructed by Danish windpower giant Orsted in 2002-2003 in the Baltic Sea near Gedser in Denmark.
Thomas Traasdahl | Afp | Getty Images
Beleaguered wind farm operator Orsted announced Thursday that it intends to reduce its workforce by a quarter toward the end of 2027, in a bid to become more competitive and refocus its efforts on Europe.
Shares were 0.7% higher in European trade on Thursday. The stock came under pressure earlier this year amid concerted efforts from the White House to reduce renewable energy generation in the United States.
Orsted share price
On his first day in office, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending new or renewed onshore and offshore wind leases. He also told reporters earlier this year that during his presidency, America was “not going to do the wind thing.”
Over the summer, the Trump administration ordered Orsted to halt construction on its Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island — which was 80% complete and set to power more than 350,000 homes. A U.S. court overturned that order last month.
In September, Orsted cut its full-year guidance, citing lower-than-normal offshore wind speeds across its offshore portfolio.
“Today, we’ve told our employees that from now and until the end of 2027, we’ll be saying goodbye to many skilled and valued colleagues who’ve contributed greatly to Ørsted,” Rasmus Errboe, the company’s CEO, said in a statement on Thursday.
Orsted currently employs around 8,000 people worldwide, and said it would reduce its headcount by 500 before the end of this year, culminating in a total of 2,000 reductions. The firm will trim employee numbers through natural attrition, cutting positions, divestment, outsourcing, and layoffs, it said.
The annual savings for Orsted are expected to amount to 2 billion Danish krona ($311 million) from 2028.
“This is a necessary consequence of our decision to focus our business and the fact that we’ll be finalising our large construction portfolio in the coming years – which is why we’ll need fewer employees,” Errboe added on Thursday. “At the same time, we want to create a more efficient and flexible organisation and a more competitive Ørsted, ready to bid on new value-accretive offshore wind projects.”
— CNBC’s Sam Meredith and Spencer Kimball contributed to this article.